I was a self taught fisher in my teenage years in the Cumberland River in Kentucky. During this time of year, late summer, I learned that I could catch a carp on nearly every cast by using corn for bait, right before dusk.

In Kentucky I was eventually told that white people do not eat carp, only black people do. I also was told that they are supposed to be skinned before eating, and that the streak along the side of the fish can be poisonous.